BRUSSELS
\nEU foreign ministers will meet Monday in Brussels to formally launch a naval mission to help protect international shipping in the Red Sea against attacks from Yemen\u2019s Houthis, officials said.
\nThe Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking the vital shipping lane since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
\nAn EU official said Friday that the bloc aims to have the mission \u2014 called Aspides, Greek for shield \u2014 up and running in a \u201cfew weeks\u201d with at least four vessels.
\nSo far France, Germany, Italy and Belgium have said they plan to contribute ships.
\nThe overall commander of the mission will be Greek, while the lead officer in operational control at sea will be Italian, the EU official said.
\nThe EU says the mission\u2019s mandate \u2014 set initially for one year \u2014 is limited to protecting civilian shipping in the Red Sea and that no attacks will be carried out \u201con Yemeni soil.\u201d
\nThe United States is already spearheading its own naval coalition in the area and has conducted strikes on the Houthis in Yemen along with Britain.
\nAn EU official said that there would be \u201ccontinuous military to military contact\u201d to coordinate actions with the US and other forces in the region.
\nThe EU\u2019s 27 countries managed to agree the Red Sea mission in a matter of weeks as concerns mount that the Houthi attacks could damage their economies and push up inflation.
\nThe accord on the naval mission stands in contrast to the bloc\u2019s trouble fashioning a common stance on the war in Gaza.
\nCountries such as Spain and Ireland have called on Israel to enact an immediate ceasefire while staunch supporters of Israel including Germany have refused to back that demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS EU foreign ministers will meet Monday in Brussels to formally launch a naval mission to help protect international shipping in the Red Sea against attacks from Yemen\u2019s Houthis, officials said. The Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking the vital shipping lane since November in a campaign they say is in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-387837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n